A noted pathologist raised questions Wednesday about how the FBI handled the 2009 shooting death of a Muslim leader in Dearborn, saying that Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah was mauled by a dog and did not receive emergency medical assistance.
Dr. Cyril Wecht of Pittsburgh has handled a number of high-profile cases. He said Abdullah was shot twice in the back -- not once as Wayne County Medical Examiner Carl Schmidt’s report said. Schmidt did not comment Wednesday.
Abdullah was killed by FBI agents during a raid Oct. 28. He had bites and claw marks from an FBI dog used during an attempt to arrest him and his followers on suspicion of dealing in stolen goods, Wecht said. He concluded the dog fractured Abdullah’s jaw.
The Detroit FBI has said its agents acted appropriately. “As the official findings of the investigations have not been released, we cannot comment,” Special Agent Sandra Berch said Wednesday. The agency used informants to monitor Abdullah and said he made statements that were anti-police and that advocated violence.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy organization, asked Wecht to do the report. CAIR has been asking for answers in the death of Abdullah -- the first religious leader to be killed in an encounter with federal agents since the 1993 Branch Davidian incident in Waco, Texas.
Wecht did a second autopsy in the Waco case and helped investigate the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo in New York and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Wecht told the Free Press on Wednesday that he questions why the Wayne County Medical Examiner did not conclude that Abdullah was bitten or clawed by a dog.
“No questions, the lacerations had to have been dog bites,” Wecht said. He added that he has no bias in favor of CAIR.
“I’m no shill for them,” Wecht said. “I happen to be Jewish. ... I’m not speaking here as a pro-Islamic terrorist supporter ... or anything like that. I’m not coming in here with a biased eye.”
Wecht said it is unclear how Abdullah was shot twice in the back. His body might have twisted around after being shot so many times, he said.